Islamic Finance for Food Security in the Middle East: Food Security Waqf
Hdeel Abdelhady proposes a multilateral food security waqf, a type of Islamic trust or endowment, as a vehicle of investment in the future food security of the Middle East. This article focuses on the rationale and objectives of a waqf-based framework currently under development by the author, for application by governments, institutions, and private entities. The structures under development combine the waqf (as a foundational framework to allocate funding and other assets) with Islamic financing structures, Islamic and conventional asset management approaches, Shari’ah- and civil law-based legal frameworks, and effective governance and operational models to achieve measureable impact, in a manner that equitably and rationally distributes rights and responsibilities among parties across the food supply chain, from government consumers to small farmers.
